Evans boosts claim to be kept on as Leeds United team boss

Tony Harber

With Leeds United now safe from the drop for another year attention has now switched to whether Steve Evans will still be in charge next year.

Amid more speculation about Massimo Cellino lining up Fabio Cannavaro as Evans’ replacement, the current Whites head coach admitted he had not yet been told about his future at the club.

All along the word has been that talks would be held with Evans, who is only contracted to June, once it was mathematically assured that Leeds would be safe from relegation.

That point has now arrived and Evans, who became Cellino’s longest-serving manager at Elland Road on Saturday is yet to be told if that deal will be extended.

He said: “In life we would all like decisions about different things. When I first asked my wife to marry me she took forever!

“You have to let the people responsible make the decisions in a time that suits them.

“I have never hidden the fact that I want to be Leeds United head coach/ manager going forward.

“But obviously time is rapidly passing us by now and the season ends in three weeks.

“If we don’t get the decision this week or next week it will only be the week after.

“There is only one owner at this football club and when he is ready to make that decision Steve Evans will go to the meeting.

“If I’m selected as the head coach going forward and we get the type of players that we have identified we’re going to challenge it’s as simple as that.”

Evans’ players have done his chances of staying on no harm with back to back home wins in probably the two most entertaining games seen at Elland Road this season.

Following Saturday’s 3-2 win over Reading the Whites produced a genuinely exciting second half display that merited far more than a 2-1 success against Wolves last night.

Thrilling attacking football the like of which has not been seen at the ground for a long time, the shackles were definitely off and the players appeared to be playing with a smile on their face again.

Admittedly the pressure was off for both teams, but the way United performed suggested that Evans could be on to something. Three more displays like this in the remaining matches and it will heap pressure on Cellino to keep Evans in a job that he clearly wants to be in beyond May.

Indeed two or three more wins would clinch the top 10 place that Evans has said all along was the aim.

He had every right to be a happy man after the Wolves game.

He said: “I think the second half has to be the best performance we’ve had here at Elland Road during my time.

“We could have scored seven or eight times in that second half.

“It wasn’t just the goals, it was the passages of play which created the chances.

“But, Leeds United being Leeds United, we conceded late and had to do a little bit of defending and the goalkeeper had to make a big save.

“But we had some great passages that we can take great pride in because there’s been a lot of work on the training ground.

“It’s a big win, we jump another place up in the table. Credit to the players – they’ve taken a lot on board and delivered it.

“We’ve still got a lot to fight for here. When you have the support base around the world that this club has, then you have to perform.”

Evans is now busy preparing his side for Saturday’s game at promotion-chasing Hull City when he is keen to plot a Yorkshire derby win after defeats this year to Huddersfield and Rotherham.

A tougher game than the last two can be expected with Hull looking to maintain their form for the play-offs to come and managed by a man Evans rates highly.

He added; “Steve Bruce is one of the best, if not the best manager in the league.

“I think he alone has galvanised Hull after the summer last year when a number of players left and he is one of the few managers in this league I look up to.

“I want a good weekend as it is the end of a mad cycle of matches and I will freshen the team up for Hull.”

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